James Bond, Agent 007, of Her Majesty's Secret Service, began existence in a novel before exploding into a multi-million dollar industry of movies, merchandise, and books. The success of the most suave and sophisticated of spies would not have been possible without the pen of Ian Fleming.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was born in 1908 to Valentine and Robert Fleming.
He was born into a highly respected social class. In time, Fleming
traveled to Europe to continue his education and lived in the Austrian
town of Kitzbuhel. Here he was able to discover himself and create his
own identity.
Although he built an identity for himself at Kitzbuhel, Fleming could not
figure out what he wanted to do in life. Fleming tried his hand at short
stories and poetry, but discontinued to do so. In the end, he emulated
his brother, Peter, and became a journalist with the Reuters news service.
While at Reuters, a success in his career ocurred when he reported on
a spy trial held in Russia. This impressed the other journalists. After
his father died, Fleming tried his hand as a banker, although it never
brought him the fortune he seeked.
In 1939 Fleming pursued an intelligence path working with Naval Intelligence.
He became assistant to the director and earned Lieutenant's rank, with
a Commander's rank following. He became close to Admiral John Godfrey, a
top spymaster in the service. Fleming plotted intelligence operations
and developed a talent and discipline. This talent not only was a
great strength in intelligence, but a strength in writing.
By 1952, Ian's friends included some famous literary people in England,
including Noel Coward, Peter Quennell, and cyril Connolly. Through time,
Fleming took his style and flair and made it into great thrillers. Twelve
years of James Bond was filled with great journalism and exciting adventures.
In 1964, ian Fleming suffered a chest cold and he was forced into a slow
recovery. On August 11, Ian began to die from internal bleeding and
on August 12, 1964, he died at 56.
